Diversity Interests of the Clinical Faculty

I am currently using latent variable modeling procedures (e.g., confirmatory factor analysis, structural regression analysis, latent growth analysis, item response theory) to study ADHD, Sluggish Cognitive Tempo, and ODD within and across countries. Current projects focuses on the usefulness of the sluggish cognitive tempo symptoms to improve understanding of ADHD (e.g., longitudinal research with Spanish colleagues on the development of SCT and ADHD-IN symptom dimensions in Spanish children). Students who work with me have the opportunity to examine ethnic and cultural differences in child behavior problems as well as learn advanced measurement and analytic procedures.

I have established a collaborative relationship with Helena Slobodskaya, M.D., Ph.D., Principal Research Scientist, State Research Institute of Physiology Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, exchanging visits and pursuing a variety of projects. Most recently, Dr. Slobodskaya and I collected longitudinal data in Russia and the U.S., evaluating parental report of temperament for infants and toddlers, as well as the development of behavior problems in the toddler period. Prior cross- cultural research provided support for the reliability and validity of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) with a Russian sample, and yielded a number of significant mean differences between the two cultures. Parents of infants in the U.S. reported higher levels for infant characteristics associated with surgency/extraversion (i.e., positive emotionality), compared to parents of infants in Russia. In addition, Russian infants’ scores for the anger/frustration dimension were higher relative to their U.S. counterparts, based on parent-report indicators. Further comparisons of the structure of infant temperament for U.S. and Russia were conducted (via confirmatory factor analysis), demonstrating a generally consistent pattern of factor loadings across these two cultures. In addressing infant temperament predictors of toddler attention-based effortful control (EC), infant regulatory capacity/orienting was demonstrated as predictive of later EC for U.S. and Russian toddlers, with infant surgency/extraversion making a significant contribution to EC development for American but not Russian children. Temperament data has also been collected in other countries (e.g., Spain, Japan, Poland) and comparisons between these cultures have indicated a pattern of similarities along with significant differences between parents’ perceptions of their infants. Some of these differences, but not all, were consistent with the idea that the individualistic/collectivistic cultural orientation of the respective countries may be in part responsible for the observed discrepancies in child attributes.

Relevant Papers

Montirosso, R., Cozzi, P., Putnam, S. P., Gartstein, M. A., (2010). Studying cross-cultural differences in temperament in the first year of life: United States of America (US) and Italy. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35, 27-37.

Gartstein, M.A., Slobodskaya, H.R., Kinsht, I.A. (2003). Cross-cultural differences in the first year of life: United States of America (U.S.) and Russian. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 316-328.

My major research interest is in examining how people cope with stress in their lives, particularly addressing the question of why some people are able to adapt to difficult situations more easily than others. I am interested in examining how resilience variables, such as hope, can influence how individuals from stigmatized groups (such as sexual/gender minorities and ethnic minorities) cope with environmental stressors.

I currently serve as an Associate Editor for Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, the journal for Division 44 (Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues) of the American Psychological Association

I am interested in native language and ethnicity as a factor in the social and academic development of children. Consistent with this objective, we explore differential outcomes for preschoolers from Spanish- and English-speaking homes that participate in structured learning environments. Results of our investigations suggest differences in how the two groups make sense of emotionally powerful stimuli, how they participate in small-group learning activities, and how teachers evaluate them. Such differences may account for differential educational outcomes across ethnic groups. These investigations are in the service of developing instructional curricula that improve the social and academic performances of preschoolers at risk for school failure.